Politics

Sykesville’s Main Street water and sewer improvement project, which has been plagued by numerous delays, is getting another extension. The latest is for 40 days to complete construction inspection services. The Board of Carroll County Commissioners unanimously approved the extension to Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP of Baltimore, at a cost of $28,470, on Oct. 26.

The City Council last night delayed – at literally the last minute – passage of a bill that would establish CitiStat as a standalone agency. Until then, the measure, which would place an “Office of CitiStat” outside of the Mayor Brandon Scott’s Office of Performance and Innovation, had been steaming ahead, propelled by the promise of “better response times” for city services.

Baltimore County officials and the state’s attorney are expected to announce Wednesday morning new measures to test years-old forensic evidence in sexual-assault cold cases. In a news release, the county wrote that it will hold a news conference to announce “a landmark commitment” to expedite testing of Sexual Assault Forensic Examination evidence, called SAFE kits, provided to law enforcement through medical examinations of sexual-assault survivors.

Marty Burns and Bob Lookingbill have been elected to Thurmont’s Board of Commissioners, according to official results on Tuesday. Out of the 836 ballots cast, Burns received 482 votes and Lookingbill received 426. They will have two seats on the board — previously held by Bill Buehrer and Wes Hamrick — and serve four-year terms.

Baltimore County’s plastic bag ban takes effect Wednesday. Customers will need to bring their own bags to stores or pay a 5-cent fee for paper bags. Some businesses are exempt from the policy, including mom-and-pop establishments that have fewer than four stores and the farmer’s market. Last week, Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski vetoed proposed amendments to the bill that would have also exempted liquor stores from the policy.

The Maryland Department of Labor, along with 43 state agencies across the nation, Tuesday announced a legal settlement with ACI Worldwide for erroneously initiating electronic transactions for mortgage loans serviced by Dallas-based Mr. Cooper (formerly known as Nationstar Mortgage LLC) from the accounts of 480,000 consumers throughout the United States.

People who work in the field of restorative justice say two things have to happen to make the practice work: all parties have to agree to the process, and once a resolution is decided upon, all parties have to agree to that as well. As the Montgomery County Council examines “community conferencing” as a way to deal with some juvenile offenses, WTOP reached out to two facilitators in two different Maryland counties to ask about the process.

Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District was once well-known — notorious even — for being among the most gerrymandered in the nation. It was part of a redistricting map that state Democrats had designed to maximize their electoral advantage. But in 2022, the district, which had combined portions of Baltimore City and four counties, was redrawn by the General Assembly to make it more compact, and — under a court’s guidance — fairer.